Diamond in the Rough

For the price of admission, you can go to the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, search for million-dollar gems, and take one home if you find one. I won’t be visiting there anytime soon, because in my opinion, what I might find probably wouldn’t exceed the cost for looking. Jesus told about a man who found a buried treasure and sold everything to buy the field where it was. That’s what Jesus did for us. He gave his life to have the field, not for all the dirt and rock, but for the chance to have us belong to him, diamonds in the rough.

I praise you, Lord, because of the awesome, unique way that you created me. You did wonderfully well, and my whole being knows and declares this truth. — Psalm 139:14

Ten Thoughts to Ponder

1. When the process is right, achievement is inevitable and therefore of little concern.
2. Improving efficiency is crucial in raising the value of time spent.
3. There is no perfect timing for doing wrong.
4. To have their way, people must modify their definition of what they knew was good.
5. Actions speak louder than words, because they are the reality of experience.
6. Eliminating prepositional phrases intensifies the action.
7. God fills our world with color, unless we are colorblind.
8. God’s help is according to his vision, not according to the way I envision it.
9. When God casts a shadow, it is filled with light.
10. Without cutting, grinding, and polishing, we are diamonds unable to radiate God’s glory.

Questions for Further Thought

• If raw diamonds had feelings, how would they react to the pain of being cut and polished?
• Why are we so valuable that God would give his life for us?